• Due to renovations to our vault, access to our collections is limited until further notice. Please contact us for more information.

Join our crew!

The Consortium Library at the University of Alaska Anchorage is pleased to announce a recruitment for a three year archival residency. We are looking for an energetic, motivated, and innovative professional to join us in offering superb archival services. This position is designed to provide a broad range of experiences…

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Calling all birders

Are you a student, staff, or faculty member at UAA* or APU? Do you know your Alaskan birds? Here’s the chance to show off your birding skills! As part of the Loren Taft retrospective exhibit at Archives & Special Collections, we’ve chosen 67 of his photographs that have Alaskan birds…

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A documentary puzzle

Did you know February is considered UAA’s birthday month? I’m not sure how official that is, but in the spirit of it, I have a documentary puzzle for you. The first Anchorage Community College commencement ceremony was held in 1956. One graduate: Vincent Demarest. Here’s the puzzle: we don’t have…

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Writing a love letter

As archivists, we don’t often tell people how to create their documents. Unless asked, of course, then the gloves are off. But on this St. Valentine’s Day Eve, I’ve found a nice little nugget in the 1885 Gay’s Standard Encyclopedia on how to write a love letter and I’d like…

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A matter of timing

In January we said we’d be highlighting one of our favorite rare books throughout the year so here we go. The Gay’s Standard Encyclopedia and Self-Educator from 1885. Let me take a brief detour. We have this clock in one of the staff areas. I took a picture of it…

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Appraising legislator’s papers

Periodically I’ll receive a call from a legislator’s office to begin the conversation of what of their legislative records might be appropriate for an archives to take in. I often try to dodge providing lists, because any list I might provide should be regarded not as prescriptive (i.e. throw everything…

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Reel Life Alaska: The Re-cap

This past Thursday night, we hosted our third Archives Month event of this October, “Reel Life Alaska,” a screening of archival film footage from our collections here at UAA Archives & Special Collections. A small but lively crowd gathered in Room 307 of the Consortium Library to munch on popcorn,…

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